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The move occurs on the same day the studio undated the pic, which was to have opened Oct. 13.
Paramount has put the machete back in the sheath.

With just less than six weeks go to before the start of principal photography, Paramount had shut down the latest iteration of Friday the 13th, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The move occurs on the same day the studio undated the pic, which was to have opened Oct. 13.

Platinum Dunes, the production company behind the film, and Breck Eisner, who was to have directed the movie, received word earlier in the day, according to multiple sources.

The film was in preproduction and, while not cast, heading toward a production start in mid-March.

The exact reason for the move is unclear, although one factor could be the poor performance of the studio’s horror movie, Rings. That pic, which like Friday the 13th was to have restarted a horror franchise, cost $25 million and bowed to $13 million over the weekend.

Sources say that execs quickly began second-guessing Friday the 13th, believing it would have chased the same audience, although others point out that the project is on the opposite spectrum of the horror scale.

A source close to Friday the 13th would only say that "the production was not ready to go at this date."

The project is a reboot of the 1980 slasher movie that proved to be a low-cost, high-yield film series for Paramount, spawning 11 sequels as it told the continuing blood-soaked adventures of Jason Vorhees, the seemingly unstoppable hockey mask-wearing killer of mostly hormonally charged teens.

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THR MARCH 29, 2017:Does the Future of Digital Cinema Mean the End of Motion Picture Projectors?

Originally Posted by Carolyn Giardina

New projection technologies are on display at CinemaCon.

Digital cinema could be facing further seismic change, and the motion picture projector, a staple of movie theaters since their beginnings, could be eliminated in the process.

This week at the theater owners convention CinemaCon, several demonstrations are presenting a vision of the future where cinema projection might not even be about projecting an image on a screen. A couple of models introduce the notion of filling the screen space with side-by-side, 4K LED video panels — the type you might see used for digital signage — to make up one giant video wall that becomes, effectively, the screen. They are much brighter than today's commonly used projectors, and some configurations with these modular panels could potentially reach 8K resolution (16 times that of today’s most commonly-used 2K) — but at a cost.

With new display developments, which also include the latest in laser projection technology, come some newly proposed business models for premium large format (PLF) cinema. And with that came the biggest question of all: Who will pay for it?

GDC, the cinema tech company, on Wednesday announced a PLF theater concept that could offer imagery up to 8K resolution using Samsung LED “Cinema Screen” technology. (Yes, consumer tech giant Samsung is also at CinemaCon, doing private offsite demos of a 34-foot screen created with its modular high dynamic range 4K LED panels).

Dubbed Jetreel Cinema, the GDC model also includes an immersive sound system from Samsung-owned Harman that the company claimed could play back a Dolby Atmos version of a film. And it includes some inviting design features, including massage seats that also offer a charging station for mobile devices.

Jetreel also has a unique business model. GDC says it will provide and install the gear — meaning the cinema owner won’t have to make a large up-front investment — as part of a profit-sharing agreement.

Meanwhile, Sony is showing a dazzling demonstration of its Crystal LED 4K panels, forming a 16-foot screen at its CinemaCon exhibit suite (it plans to show a 32-foot configuration next month at the NAB Show in Las Vegas). But the company cautiously said it is “testing the waters” with exhibitors and studios to see if there’s interest for theatrical use.

Like the Samsung system, it is modular — meaning you could choose the size wanted for a theater, and a large-enough screen could result in 8K possibilities, should that be desired.

These LED systems could also accommodate high frame rates. In fact, as part of its demonstration, Sony played a clip from Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk in 4K at 120 frames per second format (the demo was in 2D, though the system could also accommodate 4K, 3D at 60fps). GDC said Jetreel could accommodate 60 fps — meaning that this is technology that might be of great interest to James Cameron, who has said he wants to use high frame rates in making his Avatar sequels, though most of today's cinemas are currently not equipped to handle such high frame rates.

The first round of digital cinema projectors, which have been in use since theaters began to transition from film, are Xenon-based systems. Now, leading projector makers such as Barco and Christie are touting laser-illuminated projectors, which have generated attention for their ability to deliver a brighter picture than Xenon-lamps (particularly for 3D). Both companies announced new laser-projector customers at CinemaCon. And Sony is demoing its first cinema laser projector.

But the issue is cost. While prices are coming down, large cinema installations require two 4K laser projectors totaling in the $1 million list range, leaving many theater owners questioning the return on investment. While LED panel costs were not revealed, it's widely believed that these will be even more expensive for a similarly sized screen.

All of this is leading to models such as ‘Sphere,' a PLF-billed brand introduced this week by CinemaNext, the exhibitor services unit of France-based Yamgis. It is designed to use lower-cost Xenon projection technology (it currently uses Sony 4K projectors) with its high dynamic range cinema presentation system ÉclairColor, immersive sound and distinct design elements.

There are many moving parts to launching any of these models, and it's certainly possible that the future of cinema will not be just one, but many models using various types of projection.

This will bring more questions to Hollywood. There will be the question of how many additional versions of a given movie might need to be created to accommodate these models, and how might that impact production schedules and postproduction budgets.

The movie nearly got an R rating for male nudity 20 years ago before becoming an improbable franchise. Now all the players — Elizabeth Hurley, Robert Wagner, Michael De Luca, Seth Green and others — open up about awful test screenings, shooting at Scientology headquarters and luring Carrie Fisher.
When it was released May 2, 1997, there was no reason to think Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery would be a worldwide sensation. Test audiences gave it piddling scores. Its premiere at the Chinese Theatre was such a sleepy affair, nobody even bothered to take Seth Green's photograph ("It felt like it wasn't happening," he recalls).

The New Line Cinema film performed respectably, if not spectacularly, in U.S. theaters — grossing $53.9 million, off a budget of $16.5 million — but Princess Diana's fatal car crash that August didn't help set the mood for its Sept. 5 U.K. release (even though filmmakers cut the joke about Dr. Evil blackmailing the royal family), and the overseas grosses topped out at a measly $13.8 million.

But thanks to the miracle of home video — and a flashy new 1990s gadget called the DVD — Mike Myers' defrosted British spy would soon find an adoring audience and become one of the most beloved spy spoofs in Hollywood history, spawning a three-film franchise that would ultimately gross nearly (pinky to lip) a half-billion dollars.

Now, 20 years later, more than a dozen members of the cast and crew — including the famously press-shy Canadian comedian who invented the character — reveal to The Hollywood Reporter how the film came to be, from the inspiration for the shushing scene to how they shot that shagadelic sequence of Elizabeth Hurley eating a sausage (which nearly earned the picture an R-rating).

Mike Myers, "Austin Powers," "Dr. Evil," creator After my dad died in 1991, I was taking stock of his influence on me as a person and his influence on me with comedy in general. So Austin Powers was a tribute to my father, who [introduced me to] James Bond, Peter Sellers, The Beatles, The Goodies, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

I wrote it in 1995, and the bones of the script came out in two weeks. It was one of those things where I didn't know if anybody would get this movie who didn't grow up in my house. But when I showed it to [director] Jay Roach — we had met at a party and become movie buddies — he gave me 10 pages of typewritten notes. Everything he said made it better.

Jay Roach, director I was just doing it as a friend. I tried to tighten it conceptually.

Myers Jay and I would sit around and think, "What if Austin Powers were based on an obscure British comic book that we were turning into a movie?"

Roach We never wanted to mock anything as a parody, but rather say we freaking love the look of those old films. He had shopped it around. I know it had been rejected by a lot of places.

Myers I was going to get it made somehow, even if through obscure financing methods. Then Mike De Luca read it and invited me over to meet the whole team at New Line.

Michael De Luca, then-president of production at New Line Austin Powers was blazingly original. At the time, a lot of the studio comedies were sitcom-y and the same thing over and over again. This really distinguished itself.

Myers Basically, he said, "I don't want you to change a thing."

De Luca I loved Mike and his stuff on SNL. So when I read the script, I could see him being the character. And he made it really easy for us. He came in and did the character — he wasn't wearing a costume or anything — and really fleshed it out for us.

Roach There were still questions whether it would get greenlit even though they had optioned it and a part of that was waiting to see who the director was.

Myers Then it became the process of convincing New Line that Jay, who had only [produced] an independent movie about Hitler [The Empty Mirror] at that point, would be a good choice to direct.
Roach Mike goes, "Actually, I already put you up for the job." And in a big room with lots of people, [founder and former CEO of New Line Cinema] Bob Shaye, rightly so, said, "Who are you? We're not just going to hire Mike's buddy."

De Luca His directing reel was bizarre. It just wasn't a good reel. It was very low-rent. But he came in and spoke about the movie and looked us in the eye and gave us his vision. And that is what got him the job.

Myers I was so excited, I jumped in the pool with all my clothes on.

Roach Once I got it, I presented storyboards for the fembots, based on the Castle Anthrax scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when Sir Galahad is nearly thwarted by a group of seductive-looking women. I got Shaye and De Luca laughing, and they said, "OK, we'll greenlight it for $16.5 million and not a penny more." Then we started casting.

Myers I always loved the "We're not so different, you and I" scene. That was the main reason I wanted to play both Austin and Dr. Evil. The Dr. Evil voice is a little bit Lorne Michaels, there are no two ways about it, but there is a lot more Donald Pleasence in there than Lorne. Lorne has a pinky thing, but he doesn't do it anymore.

Elizabeth Hurley, "Vanessa Kensington" My agent called and said Mike Myers wanted me to star with him in a new movie. I was with my then-boyfriend Hugh Grant, who punched the air with excitement. He said Mike was one of the funniest comedians on the planet.

Robert Wagner, "Number Two" Mike wrote Number Two for me. The script hit the door, I read it and I just thought it was fabulous. It was a very provocative, dangerous thing to do, and I just embraced it from the beginning.

Seth Green, "Scott Evil" I got the script for Carrot Top's Chairman of the Board and Austin Powers in the same week. I was doing a Mamet play at the time, so my head was in a spot about actor preparation, and all of my thoughts in respect to this character were to play it deeply sincere. I thought that would be funniest next to Mike's broad character. If you look at me in the movie, I am in a drama.

Michael York, "Basil Exposition" Throughout my career, I have always relied on instinct and there was something about Austin Powers that really appealed.

Mindy Sterling, "Frau Farbissina" I met Mike when he came and did some improv shows with us at the Groundling Theatre and he tried out Austin Powers. I think Jay saw that particular show, and I must have done some kind of German woman. They asked if I would come in and audition.

Mimi Rogers, "Mrs. Kensington" Initially, they were talking to me about playing Alotta Fagina, but I was doing something where the dates couldn't work. So it ended up being Mrs. Kensington.

Larry Thomas, "blackjack dealer" My manager kept calling and told me Mike Myers wrote this film called Austin Powers and there was this really fun character called Number Two. They didn't have an answer from their celebrity offer, and I was halfway there when she told me the celebrity offer was taken, but they wanted to offer me a cameo because they liked me as the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld.

Clint Howard, "radar operator" It was a simple thing. Jay explained to me they were kind of doing a goof on the Apollo 13 flight control guy.

Roach Everything was shot in L.A. on backlots except the Vegas stuff. Outside Dr. Evil's lair was Red Rock; we shot right outside Vegas. I think the main backlot at Paramount was the one we used to set up that whole opening Carnaby Street scene.

Myers The song "Soul Bossa Nova" was on a game show in Canada called Definition. It was just swinger music. Quincy Jones had to remaster it, I remember, because it speeds up and slows down.

Quincy Jones, musician, composer I wrote "Soul Bossa Nova" in 20 minutes 55 years ago, and it just keeps resurrecting itself. I worked with Mike when I hosted SNL in 1990. We became friends, so when they reached out to ask for permission to use the song, I happily agreed.

Green The first day we shot was the therapy session with Carrie Fisher. When I walked into the trailer, Mike was getting his head shaved and somewhere in my mind I said, "Oh, he's really committed to this part, and this is going to be a great." I was really excited about that. Seeing him get his head shaved put me at ease.

Myers I knew Carrie Fisher a little bit. I sent the script to her in the hopes that she would play the therapist. And she wrote a very lovely, supportive letter saying how much she loved the movie. She was so supportive during the shoot. She just kept giving me a hug and telling me, "I just love this scene and how weird the choices are."

Roach At that time, we thought it was just going to be some kind of cool cult film. So to stay pure to the idea, I suggested we not use Steadicams, not use digital opticals, just use standard, old-fashioned film opticals and old-fashioned stunt tricks. No-money fun, as Mike calls it.

Myers One thing that is key is Jay said all of Austin's world is primary colors, and it's fuzzy and soft. Dr. Evil's world is hard, dangerous, gray or brushed aluminum, black and white with a hint of red danger hither and yon, like a red, scary phone or a red radiation sign.

Roach I loved shooting that Dr. Evil world, especially sitting around the table because they would improvise so much.

Green Mike improvised that whole shush bit.

Roach I had already shot Mike's side for that scene and I needed to shoot Seth's side. Then Mike started shushing Seth, and I thought I have to go back and shoot the other side, which is going to cost us a half day, but it's just too funny to not do.

Rogers Between takes, Mike is a very serious, consumed, obsessive, detail-oriented perfectionist. But during the takes, when he is being Austin, it was very challenging to keep it together because Mike is hilarious.

Green I remember I had a position about the kind of Kurt Cobain shirt that I would be willing to wear. I think the original pitch was for his face with the dates. I said let's just do his face because it says a specific thing, and it doesn't need any text like his death date.

Tom Arnold, "Cowboy" We got to mess around for a day on a little set on a soundstage. It was fun and easy. The "courtesy flush" is something we say in Iowa, and I got to ad-lib that, and also, "What did you eat?!" Apparently, I have spent a lot of time in bathrooms.

Fabiana Udenio, "Alotta Fagina" The bathtub scene was very funny. I was actually wearing a little skin-colored bustier that was low-cut with a low back. It was pushing everything up and I didn't realize it. When I saw the film, I was shocked, but in retrospect, I think it just makes it all bigger than life.
Roach That nudity-blocking scene with Mike and Elizabeth — I shot 25 takes of that. We kept thinking it had to play out continuously, so I just kept shooting until there was a take that every single thing lined up perfectly. It was a hilarious scene, but it was actually really stressful because we were starting to feel like we may never get it.

Myers It took a lot of rehearsal. All I had to do was follow a pattern on a rug. It was Elizabeth who was going off of a reverse-polarity screen camera, left to camera right.

Hurley Bizarrely, we shot it in the Scientology Celebrity Centre in L.A. It took a whole day, as it was one continuous take. Mike and I were nude but covered with little bits of red sticky tape. We all knew each other so well by then, so we weren't self-conscious.

York The mother being punched was one of my favorites, but that scene was shot at four in the morning when nothing is funny.

Hurley That was a long night. When Mike says he's scared of circus folk, or carnies, you can actually see me smirking in the take they ultimately had to use because there weren't any I didn't laugh in.

Roach It was difficult shooting at the giant underground facility where the missile is. We shot that in a power plant which we had been promised would be dormant because it was a back-up plant for Los Angeles. Then, on that weekend, there had been a brownout, and they had to kick that plant into action. The decibel level was so high, we were required to wear sound-blocking headphones. I directed everybody by screaming at them and using gestures. We would quickly take the headphones off the actors. It was such an unbelievable nightmare.

Myers The 27-point turn was pretty hard. I only got one or two takes on it. We were in a location that if the car hit the wall, it would be $100,000. I got told right before the take and I was like, "Oh shit."

Roach Many of the films we were embracing from those eras were made on lower budgets and you could tell.

Myers The ill-tempted seabass was from having no money when we wanted sharks. Jay and I were, like, "Well, what can we do?" And the effects guy was, like, "We can make the water bubble …"

Roach We couldn't afford to do digital exploding heads for the fembots during Austin's sexy dance. I had seen this trick in Jacob's Ladder where you just ridiculously under-crank the footage. If the actors move slowly, when you play it back, they look sped up. So I had the women who played the fembots move their heads slowly in all directions. We then shot a ball of explosives on a wire. It was all done in camera with the superimposition of the explosion on their heads. Then we cut to these cheesy dummies falling over.

Myers It is always a surprise which lines are people's favorite. The "one million dollars" has been the one that is so satisfying because it is sort of a fragile joke. The fact that Dr. Evil has been frozen, he is out of date and a million dollars is not much money. It restores your faith in audiences. And it has really stayed in the culture.

Roach One of the scenes that was the most emotional and pure joy was atop of the double-decker bus in Vegas. It was the last scene we shot of the entire movie. They let us shoot on the Strip all night long, just driving up and down.

Myers To me, the entire essence of the movie is the song "The Look of Love." It's glamorous. And then "What the World Needs Now," so having Burt Bacharach was just perfect for the film.

Burt Bacharach, musician, composer Mike was very kind and had always been appreciative of my music, apparently. His father had been a fan of my music, too. So he told me about this idea with Jay about shooting in Vegas and putting a piano on a double-decker bus, and you just say yes to something like that.

Roach There was a close call at one point. Mike twirled Elizabeth and her hand slipped out of his and she stumbled toward the edge of the railing and he caught her just before she tumbled over the side.

Bacharach People were going crazy because they could hear the music and were, like, "What's going on?!"

Roach We got an R-rating. We had to negotiate and cut. The nudity blocking was something the MPAA wanted to be sure we didn't go too far with: the cheeky phallic references, like Elizabeth biting the sausage and holding the melons up. But they were all pretty innocent body-shape jokes. The only thing they asked us to do in the final cut, which was kind of surprising to me, was they thought there was too much butt-cheek on Mike when he got thawed out, so I went for a slightly more profile version.

Myers The penis pump scene I did with my comedy partner from England, Neil Mullarkey. There were certain things that were eroticized, like being Swedish was sexy, so it was a Swedish-made penis pump.

Hurley That scene was one where I probably giggled the most, when Mike did the "Danger's my middle name" line.

Neil Mullarkey, "quartermaster clerk" When people discover I was in that movie, in that scene, their whole body lights up with joy, wherever I am in the world. I was on safari in South Africa once and the ranger googled me. "Because of that scene, you may just be my hero," he said.
Roach We didn't go a penny over budget or over schedule.

De Luca The test screenings were not good. But it was a curveball movie that wasn't really built for test screenings.

Roach Studios come down on you if you score a 70 in a test screening — we never got above a 55. De Luca said, "I get it and I think it is going to catch on. I am just going to spend more marketing money to make sure it does." That's not a typical studio response. It was crazy to take a stance like that.

Green I will never forget when I went to the premiere. It was at the Mann's Chinese, and I was so excited to be at the Mann's. But it was such a lo-fi premiere that I think there was a radio contest audience. I wore a suit, but nobody took my picture.

Roach It opened internationally on the weekend Princess Diana died, and there was no one in the world in the mood for Americans mocking English people. There was some reference to Prince Charles that did end up getting cut for the U.K. release.

Green The movie came out and did fine. I think the total take after eight weeks was something like $50 million.

Roach But then DVDs kicked in — they were a new market channel, and Warner Bros. was a pioneer. Mike and I did the commentary and worked on bonus features. They asked us to do a sequel, and I figured the video numbers must have done really well. They hide the video numbers, so you never know. To this day, it's in the red. I don't think that movie is listed as in profit, which is hilarious to me.

Myers I knew we had something when I was driving on Halloween in Los Angeles and I couldn't get past Santa Monica Boulevard because of a parade, so I sat on the hood of the car and I saw like 15 Austin Powers go by and one of the Austin Powers spotted me and came over. I had a picture with all these Austin Powers, which was unbelievably cool.

Rogers I was at the London Waterloo station with my husband getting ready to go to Paris and all of a sudden, we hear a chorus of bodies shout out, "It's Mrs. Kensington!" And I was looking at my husband like, "What the f—?"

Wagner I was in a small village in France having lunch and my wife pointed over to the window and there were about eight kids standing with a hand over their left eye, holding up two fingers.

Hurley I have just been invited to a friend's son's 18th birthday party and the theme is … Austin Powers. It seems incredible. Sadly, I don't think I can fit into any of my costumes.

Roach We have talked about [making a fourth movie] for 15 years. We have also always said we don't want to do it unless we came up with something that lived up to the concepts in our mind. Until Mike feels like he has a concept that earns a fourth, it won't happen. But if it did, we have all agreed that we would be delighted to get back into it.

Myers I would love to do another, but you just have to see. I was devastated by my father's death. But to have that turn into something that makes people happy is unbelievably satisfying. It's that kind of stuff you never get used to or get tired of.

Re: Randoms

The sequel to 'Unbreakable' and 'Split' may offer a twist to what audiences expect from Marvel and DC films.
By now, the idea of shared cinematic universes is almost passé; Marvel's box office dominance has led to the launch of similar spaces for DC's superheroes and Legendary's kaiju-esque monsters, with both Hasbro's toylines and Universal's classic monsters about to get their own universes to play in as well. But the release of M. Night Shyamalan's Split this year teased something different — a superhero universe with a twist, fittingly enough.

That a moviemaker's stories all take place in the same world isn't a new thing — Quentin Tarantino has claimed that all of his movies are interrelated, for example — and certainly, Shyamalan hasn't shied away from suggesting connections between his own movies in the past. With the denouement of Split, however, he not only confirmed that the movie took place in the same world as his earlier Unbreakable, he created the first auteur shared superhero universe.

Up to this point, one of the defining features of a shared cinematic universe has been the fact that they're products of an army of creators, and as such, tend to either feature a singular tone and visual style — the Marvel movies, say — or feature abrupt shifts between installments (Compare Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, for example). The choice has been lack of consistency or lack of distinction, but having a shared universe all under the direction of one filmmaker would appear to offer one particular route out of that quandary.

Having one central authorial voice would also remove increased likelihood of any plot inconsistencies or dead ends in terms of the overall universe, a la Captain America: The Winter Soldier's deconstruction of SHIELD, which was immediately contradicted for obvious reasons when it came to the Marvel's Agents of SHIELD TV series — and offer the potential for more subtle connections between different properties than what audiences have become used to via Marvel or DC name dropping and Easter eggs.

Indeed, the immediate comic book model for this line of thinking isn't, perhaps surprisingly, the early days of Marvel Comics when Stan Lee had his hands in everything out of necessity — although, curiously enough, that might be a model for Kevin Feige's role in Marvel Studios today, guiding larger moves while letting individual creators do the heavy lifting. The more apt comic book example for Shyamalan comes from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers line from a decade or so ago; seven different series all written by Morrison, telling one over-arching story throughout all seven, but with each one an entity that can stand alone, separate from everything else. Translating that style into movies could bring a new depth to the superhero movie genre.

Of course, what the Unbreakable/Split connection actually means in practice remains to be seen. Will there be more to it than Glass, the newly announced movie tying the two films together, or will it simply be three movies that tell one story and then end forever? Certainly, there's the potential for more stories to be told inside the fictional Unbreakable Glass That Splits universe, in movies, comic books or elsewhere, should Shyamalan want to tell them — but that last part is the central appeal of it all. If Shyamalan isn't interested in expanding the universe beyond these three movies, what's the point? What makes the universe unique as it stands is the sole voice telling these stories. Take that away, and what's left to differentiate it from any other superhero universe …?

Glass will be released Jan. 18, 2019. Almost certainly, audiences will have to wait until the twist ending of that movie to find out if there's more to come.